The next General Election is about two years away so what would a school report on the Government's performance to date say?
I would give them six out of ten.
There have been some welcome initiatives on manufacturing; Birmingham has been offered hope.
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But the Coalition is currently going through all sorts of problems, notably the challenge from 海角视频IP.
The trouble is it is a combination of coalitions – a coalition between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats but also arguably a coalition among the Tory Party itself.
So you have a double whammy, which limits what they can do.
All parties will be planning now for the General Election. The Government could give out some goodies – we may find out in the June spending review – but that could turn out to be more a burden than an asset.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has been talking up manufacturing and providing the sector with capital. But you won’t get revenue until business picks up and you start generating economic growth.
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However, they have generated a feel-good factor around manufacturing, mainly as a result of keeping sterling low, so aiding exporters.
The apprenticeship push is good – by and large in manufacturing their introduction is happening properly, albeit there have been suggestions that in pockets the policy is more about cheap labour.
The science budget has been ring-fenced. Capital spending in universities is up. Watch out, incidentally, for plenty of ideas from Birmingham Ladywood Shadow Higher Education Minister Shabana Mahmood.
I would have liked to have seen reductions in National Insurance and VAT to kick-start the economy.
And the North-South divide is getting wider. As for Birmingham I am concerned that the cuts are happening without the capital injection. Will the Heseltine plan come through?
But the ingredients for success are there – Birmingham, Warwick and Aston are good universities, Sir Albert Bore is making progress and I always hear nothing but praise for the new QE Hospital. But it won’t happen without growth.
So six out of ten then – to get it up to eight would require phenomenal amounts of time and money.
* Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya is founder of Warwick Manufacturing Group